City manager unveils budget plan, defends police

Friday

Jul 26, 2013 at 12:01 AMJul 26, 2013 at 1:00 PM

Andrew Denney

Columbia City Manager Mike Matthes' proposed budget for the 2014 fiscal year calls for the hiring of two new police officers and a police sergeant, but it includes little overall change in the budget for the Columbia Police Department despite heightened discussion about crime prevention in the city.

Matthes unveiled his proposed $414 million budget at a news conference this morning at City Hall. His proposal contains no tax increases, a 5 percent water rate increase and fee increases for parking permits, some business licenses and Columbia Parks and Recreation Department facility rentals.

The Columbia Police Department had requested 12 new police officers and nine new civilian employees, noting that a staffing survey found the department would need up to 30 new officers to be able to devote half of its time to community-based policing efforts.

Matthes said, though, that budget constraints limit how many new officers the city can hire. He said the two new officers and the new sergeant would be assigned to the neighborhoods with the highest volume of calls for service.

For the current fiscal year, Matthes had proposed $18.5 million for the police department, but that amount was adjusted to $19.9 million to pay for capital expenses. His proposed budget for the department for the coming fiscal year is $19.8 million.

Matthes used this morning's news conference to also address recent statements from Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey, who said he thinks Columbia police have been hindered in their ability to fight crime because of a lack of proactive policing techniques such as increasing traffic stops of known criminals, serving more search warrants and using paid informants in investigations.

Matthes said police serving search warrants can amount to conducting "militarized" SWAT raids that strip away citizens' civil rights and often result in police coming away without useful evidence. More SWAT raids, Matthes argued, would not reduce crime rates.

"We are not allowed as a police department to take away your civil rights until a crime has occurred," Matthes said. He also said he was skeptical about the effectiveness of using paid informants in criminal investigations, saying there are incentives for them to give bad information to police. Police Chief Ken Burton also has said he prefers not to rely on paid informants.

"These are generally bad guys who give a tip in exchange for money, and they are almost always lying," Matthes said.

Matthes said that, despite the perception that violent crime has run amok, the 2012 violent crime rate for Columbia was 4.3 per 1,000 residents, down from about 5.3 per 1,000 residents in 2011, according to Uniform Crime Reporting statistics submitted by Columbia police.

Carey also has said he is skeptical about the effectiveness of a plan by the city to form a task force assigned to create long-term strategies to address youth violence. Matthes said the task force could help to direct services already available in the city to tackle root causes of crime such as poverty and turbulent family situations.

Burton did not respond this morning to messages seeking comment about Matthes' proposed budget or Carey's statements.

Columbia Public Schools also requested funding from the city to hire new school resource officers, but Matthes' budget says the department is unable to take any officers off the streets and put them in schools because of staffing and hiring concerns.

The SRO that serves the city's six middle schools will be transferred to Battle High School, which is outside city limits. City officials, though, expect the city's borders will soon include Battle through a series of annexations.

Michelle Baumstark, a spokeswoman for Columbia Public Schools, said the district had enough funding from a recent bond levy increase to hire an assistant safety coordinator. The district would ideally like to have SROs in all of its secondary school buildings, she said, but administrators understand there are budget constraints.